Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Hello, I am a part-time fine art photographer and my favorite subjects are landscapes, flowers, classic European architecture, travel, visual arts and crafts. I work with two DSLR systems but like to have with me a compact camera at all times for any eventuality. Depth of field, composition and sharpness are typically more important to me than very fast focusing and shooting (I work mostly in Av mode) but sometimes I need my equipment to be responsive enough to capture travel's fleeting moments. I have recently replaced my award-winning compact Fuji E900 with a Canon G12. Living not far from B&H in Manhattan, I had the chance to "play" with it and the other two cameras I was considering - the Nikon P7000 and the Panasonic LX5 with its external EVF - before buying. After putting the camera through its paces for a couple of weeks with my kind of photography I have come to the following conclusions. The G12 is an advanced compact camera larger than your average pocketable but smaller than a micro 4/3" or similar. It does not fit in a shirt pocket but it does it in a regular pouch together with your wallet, cell phone etc. (I never use photo bags to avoid advertising the equipment). The fact that it has some size and weight makes it more stable in my hands and allows for its numerous external controls. The camera's key features include a larger than average 1/1.7" 10Mp sensor with superior image quality in low light and higher ISO values, a sharp 28-140mm zoom lens, an optical viewfinder, a fully articulated LCD monitor, many dedicated external controls, manual exposure, Raw format, good responsiveness, reasonably fast autofocus even in low light, and a powerful flash. Beginning with the G11, Canon has dared bringing down the resolution of its G series sensors from 14Mp to 10Mp, which is more than enough for most users. This gutsy move has significantly reduced high ISO noise. I can make enlargements around 16x20" from the G12 with ISO 800 pics in good light and ISO400 in low light (in Raw format and proper processing in Camera Raw). The 5x zoom lens, even if not particularly bright, extends from a very useful 28mm wide angle to a 140mm short telephoto. This conservative zoom range covers most of my typical photography, keeps the lens sharp through every focal length and reduces distortions and aberrations. Some kinds of photography can be done with inexpensive equipment but true wide angle and telephoto work requires high quality, expensive equipment and solid technique (if you are serious about your photography stay away from superzoom cameras). The zoom control is a bit on the sensitive side. Composing with an LCD monitor is sometimes useful but generally awkward and unstable, does not help you concentrate on your subject, and is downright impossible in bright light. The G12 offers an optical viewfinder which, while small and covering only 77% of the image, is often a life saver. When I worked with slide film I strove for a final crop in-camera. Then I moved to digital and learned the creative advantage of shooting wider and doing final cropping in processing. Hence the 77% viewfinder coverage is not an issue for me, I just shoot very tight. The camera has a sharp 2.8", 461Kp fully articulated LCD monitor hinged on the side (so that it is never in the way of the tripod head). There are specific shooting conditions where a monitor like this is useful. This includes shooting over people's heads, at ground level and wherever your arms can reach but your head can't. I do macro in the field where this feature is invaluable. A few days ago I photographed the always crowded New York Botanical Garden train show and used the LCD monitor for most of my pictures. With the camera in P mode and forced flash I got many publication-quality pics. I like the camera's external controls a lot, especially the top and front dials. I am less enthused with the back dial which is a little awkward to operate. I have to be careful with my right hand because sometimes I touch the four-way controller, especially the manual focus button. The menu system is more modern and fancier than my Pentax and Olympus cameras but it is a bit slower. The same holds true for the autofocus which is however quite fast and accurate in low light due to the focus assist lamp. In the end, the G12 is overall much faster than the "mythical" EVF cameras I owned in the past, including the Olympus C8080 and the Fuji S9100 which took ten seconds or more to write a Raw pic to memory (the G12 does it in two seconds). Continuous shooting is up to 2fps in best possible conditions (jpeg and fixed focus and exposure) and drops to 0.8fps with continuous focus. All the manual controls are there. The camera can shoot Raw and, my favorite, Raw + jpeg. I do all my main work in Raw but having jpegs readily available for the web and for portability is a real treat (you can check or show your jpegs with every computer). The flash is quite powerful reaching 21' at wide angle in P mode. Using the camera in automatic is as simple as it gets but learning its functions serves two purposes: it allows you to get out of trouble if you press the wrong button, and to use all that the camera can offer to the creative photographer. If all you want is a point-and-shoot, there is plenty of smaller, simpler and/or less expensive models out there. The camera offers a cornucopia of operating functions. I particularly value the live histogram before and after shooting, enlarged playback for checking focus, auto exposure bracketing up to +-2 f/stops (for out-of-camera HDR applications), spot autofocus and custom white balance. In jpeg format, I appreciate the Shadow Correct more than the Dynamic Range Correction because it does not crank up the ISO setting (= more noise). I prefer to process my Raw HDR pictures in Photoshop but I am impressed with the effectiveness of the in-camera HDR function (jpeg only). It requires the use of a tripod because the G12 cannot fine-align the three pictures it takes but with this camera you can use the lightest carbon fiber tripod on the market. Macro photography is all right with the usual limitations: the maximum magnification happens at wide angle which puts the front of the lens very close to the subject (= lighting problems). Focus bracketing is limited by the fact that is does not work in macro. It would be a killer macro feature when paired with Photoshop's extended focus function. The G12 has an exhaustive set of accessories including an AC adapter, remote release and a ring flash (there are compatible ring flash units that cost a fraction of the Canon's). The lack of a printed manual is disappointing. I immediately printed my own from the enclosed CD. I almost always work in Av mode with the autofocus set on center spot and locking, and unlocked exposure. With static subjects I like to pick my focus where I want it by pressing the shutter button half way, recompose (with the exposure continuously updating) and take the picture. With the G12 I have to pick the exposure first and lock it with the star button (top right in the back), then half press the shutter button to pick the focus point, recompose again and shoot (it takes much longer to explain it than do it). Please correct me if there is a better way to do this. In jpeg and Quick Shot mode the camera is at its fastest. The LCD monitor turns into an info screen similar to a DSLR camera, autofocus is set to continuous and you compose with the optical viewfinder. The G12 takes movies at 720p at 24fps or lower resolutions at 30fps with stereo sound but without manual controls or optical zoom. I tried and it works as intended (but I use a camcorder for video). As for the competition, the Nikon 7000 is a great camera but independent testing indicates that it is unresponsive and can be frustrating to operate. The Panasonic LX5 is also very good but has no optical viewfinder. I would have to buy and use the external electronic viewfinder which I don't like and makes the whole setup somewhat awkward. In conclusion, I find working with this camera in all the situations that do not require high speed or low light performance to be truly enjoyable. With all the limitations inherent in a compact camera, the G12 is a truly remarkable piece of photographic equipment. I would wholeheartedly recommend it to professional photographers as a go-everywhere camera as well as to serious amateurs who really want to learn the art and don't mind reading the manual. ONE YEAR LATER: after four seasons of not heavy but regular use, I would not replace the G12 with any other comparable camera on the market. There are several points that I would like to make. Shooting coastline landscapes, I have grown a real appreciation for the 16:9 format. With the LCD open to the side and facing down, I am able to lift the camera well over my head and, in specific cases, gain a crucial, higher point of view. While I am a Raw + Photoshop kind of photographer, I am always mystified by the quality of the camera's jpeg HDR function (using a very light tripod). I am also an adult educator and the pictures of my students in the classroom that I take with the flash are really good. The major sacrifice imposed by the size of this camera is the lack of an EVF. The LCD monitor is OK in low light but in the sun you can kiss it goodbye. With all its limitations, it's the optical viewfinder that ends up saving the day.